1898. J BARRKTT-HAMII.TON. — hitroductiou of Hares. 73 



country, and lie in the middle of all the fields." When these hares 

 were introduced *' there was not a hare in the country except in the 

 mountains." 



Lord Clonbrock informed me {ijt lit. of Feb. 9th, 1892), that English 

 Hares were introduced at Baronscourt, Co. Tyrone, by the late Duke of 

 Abercoru, from whose lips he had obtained this information about 

 the year 1876. Lord Clonbrock, however, never saw an English hare 

 there that year " nor heard of one as having been seen for some time 

 previously, nor was there any difference perceptible in the hares there 

 from the ordinary hare. There was an attempt made to trace cross- 

 breeding in one hare which I shot, from the length of the ears, but the 

 difference, if any, was very slight, and the colour of the hare was that of 

 the Irish Hare." 



Co. \VlCKI.OW. 



English Hares have been introduced at Powerscourt, in the Co. 

 Wicklow, and Lord Powerscourt has very kindly sent me the following 

 information, which I quote from a letter received from him, and dated 

 November 3rd, 1895, viz., " The only information I can give you as to the 

 English hares is that about 1865 or '6, Mr. Edward Heneage, of Hanitou 

 Hall, Lincolnshire, now the Right Hon. Edward Heneage, sent me about 

 forty English Hares to turn out at Powerscourt. These came in boxes 

 or crates, ten in a crate, and were turned out in the Park at Pow^erscourt 

 near the house. 



" It was found by my keeper a few days afterwards that all the hares 

 w^ere blind. They ran up against trees and fences, and could not see, 

 and they all died. After this (a very extraordinary thing) Mr. Heneage 

 sent me forty more, but then we had boxes made so that each hare 

 travelled in a separate little compartment to itself. These hares 

 arrived all safe, and were turned out and did well, and bred — so much so 

 that two years afterwards we killed over 200 in a day. 



"There has not been any fresh importation of hares since that, and I 

 am afraid they have bred in and in, and there are very few now .... 

 These hares never, to my knowledge, crossed with the Irish Hares, but 

 there were no Irish Hares in the demesne at Powerscourt, although we 

 have plenty on the mountains some three or four miles off. But the 

 English Hares have never spread, so much as to get to the moun- 

 tains, and have never even crossed the Dargle river, which they could 

 easily do, as the river is small and there are several bridges, and also if 

 any of them had got out of the demesne they could have got to the 

 mountains. But they do not seem to wander far. I must get some 

 fresh hares from England, and, perhaps, they will then wander more, but 

 they have not much chance when they get out of the preserved ground, 

 as the farmers' dogs kill them .... The English Hares I have are 

 quite free, and if they chose, could cross the river and get out of the 

 demesne, but they do not seem to do so much, although, when there 

 were more of them, I did hear of a few being killed outside the demesne, 

 and once saw one hanging in a poulterer's shop in Dublin." 



A4 



